The Health Information Professionals registered student organization is a new group focused on bringing awareness to the programs and creating community within them.
This group was made for students in the health information technology and health information management programs.
The RSO was created by health information management program seniors Kyara Perez, Sonya Poll, Alexis Harvell and Nicole Ly along with Julie Alles, a professor and the clinical coordinator of the health information programs.
The organization just started and only has a few members, so they are focused on recruitment and retention. To kickstart this effort, they will attend the RSO fair on Jan. 17 in the David L. Eisler Center ballrooms.
The group plans to start hosting meetings after this fair. These meetings will act as a sort of study group for those within the programs.
“Years and years ago we had SLA [Structured Learning Assistance], but the funding just isn’t there,” Alles said. “So by bringing this RSO, we could have group studies, help our own, and work together as a group.”
Alles encourages students in these programs to join and recruit their classmates. In addition to help with classes, these meetings will give students resources to begin preparing for credential tests, which are required for those both in the health information management and health information technology programs.
While the group hasn’t had any meetings yet, they did host a bake sale at the beginning of December. This allowed for them to raise money and spread awareness about the group within the campus community. A second bake sale is currently planned for the first part of January.
Alles said she suggested creating the RSO to help bring more awareness to the program in place of a training presentation the students were supposed to give. She said was surprised at how much the students wanted to do it and how enthusiastic they were about it.
“I told them that I would do anything, I would be their backup, I would be their support, I would do anything because our program is hidden,” Alles said. “Everyone knows what a nurse is and everyone knows what a PA is, but they have no idea what health information management is.”
Alles and the students that helped create the RSO hope it will be an effective way to get more information out about health information programs and bring more students to them.
The students have crafted a motto for the RSO: “health information professionals: charting a course to health information success with a dash of fun along the way!”
For more information about the RSO or health information programs, contact Julie Alles at juliealles@nullferris.edu.